Some times I do stupid shit, not because I think I’ll enjoy it, but because deep down I know I’ll be able to tell someone who appreciates how stupid it was. Well, now that I work in an office of one instead of eight, I don’t really have anyone to tell! So I’m going to bore the general public with my stupid story.

It’s really not that exciting…that’s why it’s stupid.

My new office is about 1 mile from the main campus, so I take a shuttle back and forth multiple times a day, depending on how many meetings I have on campus. The shuttle ride takes about 10 minutes to get there, but like 20 minutes to get back because of all the stops. I had just missed the 12:15 shuttle from campus and decided, you know what, I’m gonna walk. I know its hot, I know I’m wearing business-casual attire, but I have on comfortable shoes and I don’t have another meeting until 3pm so I can handle being a little sweaty for a bit.

So, I did. And I am. Sweaty. Very. Like a slick pig. And it only took me 25 minutes, only FIVE minutes longer than the shuttle. The cool, air conditioned, cushy seated shuttle. Yeah….

Last weekend I went home to California for my 10 year High School Reunion! It was actually a LOT of fun and it was great to see people I hadn’t seen in 10 years. My weekend started out on Thursday night, when my flight was delayed 2 1/2 hours in Nashville. So I didn’t make it home until 11pm instead of 8pm, but at least it was the same day. My mom met me at the airport and then we stayed up until about 1am just catching up.

Friday we went and saw a matinee, Vicky Christina Barcelona, the new Woody Allen film. I thought it was quite perfect and Javier Bardem sold himself as a romantic Spaniard following his role as a serial killer. Scarily, both were very believable. Scarlett Johansson was superb as always, and Penelope Cruz was a raving lunatic, which she does quite well. Anyway, the story had a few flaws, or maybe there just wasn’t enough time to show the full character development, but I found the lead’s role a little hard to believe.

Friday night we had dinner with my best friend Meredith and then she and I headed to 2nd Street for a few drinks without mom. We ended up at a bar where they were playing the Titans vs. Raiders game, so I had a good time watching the Titans win in the last few seconds. As always, it was wonderful to see Meredith, I just wish I could’ve stayed longer!

Saturday mom and I saw another movie, this time one with a little more hilarity. Tropic Thunder. Ben Stiller. Robert Downey Jr. What else do you need? It was pretty ridiculous, but we laughed the whole time. I love that I can watch stuff like that with my mom.

Saturday night was the actual reunion at the Queen Mary and it was a pretty nice event. There were probably about 175 people there (out of a class of 650), and I recognized all but maybe 5 people. Although not too many of my theater friends were there, I did get to see a few of them and then a whole bunch of people I “kinda” knew.

After the main event, we went down to Seal Beach and hung out at O’Malley’s, a local Irish Pub, until they closed. It must be a pretty popular hangout because it was packed with people our age. I made some new friends and chilled with some old friends and overall had a great night.

Next….my 5-year college reunion! That’s already coming up in October, I can hardly believe it! I’ll know even less people from my college class, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be just as much fun! Plus, my friend Angelo is coming down from Chicago since he graduated the same year, so I’ll get to see him again! Stay tuned!

Golly gee I haven’t blogged in a while. I have a few posts started, but was too lazy to finish them. At the current time, I am waiting for my delayed flight home to California. According to the last overhead announcement, the plane that was to depart from NYC at 5pm is not leaving until 7:30pm, and thus my 5:55 flight won’t be leaving until 8:30. Which is not too far away now. I spent some of my delay at the Tootsie’s bar nearby, listening to live music and chatting with others at the bar. As long as I get home tonight, I’ll be okay. Of course I wish I would’ve known there’d be a delay so I could’ve changed out of my work clothes, but now I’m still outfitted in my dressy grays. Oh well.

In case you’re wondering why I am going home (like one needs a reason to go to California!), this weekend is my High School reunion. I’ll let you guess how many years. I’m pretty excited. I haven’t really seen anyone from HS since…well, HS. Should be quite a trip. I hope a lot of people go to the event. We’re having it at the Queen Mary, which should be an elegant location. It may be a little weird at first, showing up alone, but I’m sure I’ll get over that quick enough. I’ll be sure to post an update when I return!

Yesterday I got back from a week at the beach and, boy, is it hard to be back. The trip was really great and I enjoyed spending time with my mom and brother.

My mom arrived in Nashville on Saturday so she got to see my new apartment and sleep in my brand new guest bed. It was nice to have her here, if only for one day, to see my new digs and know that I’m safe.

We left for Norfolk on Sunday around 4pm and arrived on time around 6:30pm. Got our rental car and drove to Nags Head, NC where my brother had already checked in to our hotel. My mom had found this cute hotel called the “Surf Side Hotel”. Its a beach-front hotel, with 3 pools, and a 2-bedroom suite that faces the ocean. We were only staying for 4 nights, so my mom didn’t want to rent a condo (but let me tell you, if I ever go back, we’re renting a condo or beach house. Those things are AWESOME!).

The room was really cute and comfortable, but there was one unfortunate circumstance we had not anticipated. The fires in NC had driven all the little gnats to the ocean. And the ocean wetness drove all the little gnats into the nearest hotels. So, when we arrived, we noticed a few dead gnats on the tile floors (where there was tile, because the room was mostly carpet). At first it was just a few, but as the night went on, I noticed them on the bedspread, desk, and in the bathroom. By the morning, there were HUNDREDS of dead gnats and many live ones in the room. We called a few other beach-front hotels and they were all having the same problem.

Those of you who know me know I’m not great with bugs. Okay, I really despise the little creatures. But I can deal with them when I am in their territory…you know, hiking, camping, whatever. But when they invade MY safe, clean hotel room and make it unbearable, I cannot stand it. Luckily I wasn’t the only one with qualms, so my mom and brother and I decided to find another place.

My brother’s friends, Sam & Bea, just happened to be staying on Roanoke Island, which is still the “Outer Banks”, but is on the Sound instead of the ocean. His friends confirmed that they were NOT having the gnat problem there, so we went to visit the little inn where they were staying. Located right on the Sound’s edge in the town of Manteo, the Tranquil House Inn is an adorable 4-story inn with single, double, and suite rooms. My mom was really intent on having an ocean view to begin with, so when we were forced to flee to the island, she was glad to see they had a sound-front room available. The room was so pretty and they have a gorgeous deck that looks out over the marina.

We were very pleased with our choice to move to Manteo, even though we were no longer right on the ocean and away from the hustle and bustle of the main drag, still only an 8-minute drive away. Monday and Tuesday were unbearably hot though. We barely did anything those first two days. I went to the beach once with Sam & Bea, but it was just too hot to stay outside very long.

Luckily, Wednesday and Thursday turned out to be gorgeous days, so we took advantage of it by going to the beach and checking out some of the local tourist sites, such as The Elizabethan Gardens, named after Queen Elizabeth I, The Aquarium, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the oldest and tallest brick lighthouse in the country, and the Wright Brothers’ National Memorial.

We also got to know a few locals and spent our nights at “Poor Richards“, a sandwich shop by day, a hopping locals bar at night. I almost went parasailing, but was told, compared to skydiving, it’s really not that exciting, so I saved my $80 for something else!

All in all, we had a really great time in the Outer Banks. I can see why people fall in love with it and go back year after year. Although next time I’ll probably try to stay on the beach, I highly recommend Manteo for small families or romantic getaways.

After returning from a week on vacation, and thus a week’s worth of blogrolls to catch up on, this has got to be my favorite Cheezburger post of them all:

you hear about who do stupid things on the lake, especially on holiday weekends? Well, I think I might be one of them. I went out with a friend yesterday and, while inner tubing, hit my eye with my knee. Yes, it is possible…and I’ll show you how if you don’t believe me.

But anyway, I didn’t know it at the time, but I actually got a 1.5cm laceration deep enough to warrant stitches. Unless I could settle with a nice big scar above my right eye. Which I cannot. Here is said laceration:

So, yesterday I spent almost 4 hours in the Vanderbilt ED and was told I did indeed need stitches. Hurray! They did a really good job and it looks even better today:

Nice eye shadow, huh? I think I may put some on the other eye just so they match. Can’t wait to see how colorful it gets.

Its a little difficult to follow up that last post with something so trivial, but I’m going to do it anyway. I haven’t given my Thanksgiving update, so I figure I’m due for it.

This Thanksgiving we decided to make a few dishes to take with us to Clarksville and one of those was a green bean casserole. Jason had been talking about how he hadn’t had one in so long and how great it would be, yadda yadda. Anyway, I was curious to see how difficult it would be to make it from scratch and found a recipe on a blog called “A Veggie Venture”. It looked a little complicated, but since we were not having T-giving dinner until Friday (which means we had a whole day to prepare), I thought I might as well go for it.

The recipe boasts as being the “World’s Best Green Bean Casserole” and I have to agree. Everything is from scratch, including the topping, although I opted for the traditional fried onions cause I didn’t want to go too far out on a limb. I may try the topping for my next holiday potluck, coming up in a few weeks. Anyway, you start by sauteeing the mushrooms in butter, garlic and salt & pepper and then add the sauce ingredients to that. By the end of it, the house smelled so good. On Thursday I only made one batch and realized it wouldn’t be enough to fill half a casserole dish, so on Friday morning, I made a second batch. It was much easier the second time and came out just as yummy. It was a hit at the dinner table and we even had leftovers to enjoy. I finished it up last night. Yum yum.

Other than that, there was nothing much remarkable about Thanksgiving. We left the dogs at home, seeing how Dexter is still recovering from his back surgery and that there were already going to be 5 dogs in attendance. Speaking of Dexter, he is doing really well after his surgery. We are still cautious about him jumping up on things, but he’d love to do it if we let him. He’s managed to make it down the stairs once when we weren’t looking and has jumped off the couch a few times before we could catch him, but for the most part, he’s taking it easy. I think he’s suffering a bit from cabin fever seeing how he keeps trying to play with Clementine. She seems to know that he’s not supposed to play too hard and mostly just lies there, which makes him bark even more. Its really very cute. Its good to see him energetic and in good spirits.

On Saturday, Jason’s parents and his sister and her husband came down to Nashville to see the home renovations. They were very complimentary and let me show off all the work. Afterwards, we talked them into going down to the Gulch for dinner at Rusan’s. They’d never been before but everyone found food to enjoy. Kinda hard not to when you go to Rusan’s!

This year, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday instead of tomorrow. Jason’s sister’s husband (I guess that makes him my brother-in-law-in-law?) is in the army and is just now starting his Thanksgiving break. Seeing how they live in NC and have to drive here for the customary dinner, it will most likely be late tomrrow or early Friday before they arrive. Se we are delaying our dinner until then, as you might imagine.

This will be the first time my in-laws have had both of their children married at Thanksgiving, so I wonder if that’s crazy for them. First Jason and now Jennifer. No longer their “babies”. I know my mom had a hard enough time when I got married, I wonder what it will be like when/if Brett gets married. I say “if” not because I think he won’t find someone to share his life with, but because he has expressed distinct disinterest in the concept.

Anyway, I think Thanksgiving on Friday will be nice. Mostly because we can avoid the travel traffic on Thursday. Then again, we run the risk of running into Black Friday traffic too. I’m debating whether or not I should do a little early morning shopping. I’ll probably opt for not. The only time I’ve done that was with Melissa who now has a 3 week old baby. I doubt she’ll be out doing any early morning shopping…unless Jim decides to stay with lil Brody.

I’m rambling.  So yeah, Thanksgiving on Friday. For those of you celebrating tomorrow, have a happy one and have safe travels!

Last night I went to my first Nashville Predators Game at the Sommet Center. My soccer team got great club level seats because our resident photographer (and girlfriend to one of the players) works for the Preds and was able to get us some complimentary tickets. We basically took over a little corner in our section and had a great time.

We met at Rippy’s beforehand, a Nashville BBQ tradition that I’ve never experienced. We had hopes of dining there but Jason and I didn’t even get there until 6:25, and apparently everyone who goes to the Pred’s game also tried to eat at Rippy’s first. The place was packed and we barely made it through the crowd to find my soccer team and grab a quick beer. I also made a new friend, Annie. Hi Annie! (she’s a blogger, so I’m hoping she’ll find mine!) Glad you’re moving to Nashville in January. Be sure to email me and we’ll get together!

The game itself was pretty fun. The Preds scored first, then the Blackhawks scored three unanswered points. In the final period, the Preds scored again, taking the lead, but then the BH scored again to tie with 42 seconds to go.  Sudden death! dun dun dun. Within what had to be only 30 seconds, the Preds hammered one in and won the game. We were screaming and dancing and it was all around good fun.

It reminded me a lot of my days at RIT, watching hockey from the Corner Crew section, yelling out nerdy chants and booing at the other team’s penalty box. Those were fun times! Vandy doesn’t have an ice hockey team, that I know of, so I never got into it in college. Of course, RIT doesn’t have a football team, so I guess I traded the two when I moved here!

I still think football fans are much better fans that hockey fans. Or maybe its just because the Preds are having some trouble and the fanbase isn’t what it could be. But so far, I’d say the Titans games are much more exciting as a whole and it would take a lot to change my mind!

This weekend I attended two halloween parties and had a great time. The first was hosted at a gigantic home in Belle Meade and there had to be 200 people there by midnight. I went early to this party and left around 10pm to go to the other party, knowing I would want to return. Anyway, NiT has a link to some pictures. Alas, I am not in any of them, but they do capture some of the controlled craziness that ensued. I actually only knew the host and one other party guest, so I walked around the house countless times looking at costumes and made friendly conversation with some other guests. Open bar + yummy food + lots o people = good times!!

The second party was hosted by one of my Actor’s Bridge friends, Pru, and it was great to see all my theatre buds in their goulish getups. I opted for a nondescript costume combination of a black satin dress, some black wings, and a black halo. I was hence referred to as a “dark angel”. Worked for me.

Last night, although it wasn’t a halloween bash, I participated in a work function at 100 oaks mall. Vanderbilt is going to be moving some clinics and opening up some new ones out there starting next year. This was kind of a pre-party for tenants of 100 oaks as well as lots of employees and donors. I spent the whole night demonstrating some parts of our EMR and socializing with co-workers. Not a bad way to spend a “work night”.